Hayley Stewart is a photographer of people and the contemporary human experience. Most recently, she has been following threads of various subcultures. Members of each subculture have identities that can be quite fluid, which becomes a reflection and a reaction to the state of the world they inhabit. One phenomenon of particular interest is cosplay; people dress up in costume as a character of their choice, often from anime, film, comics, or video games. Wearing another skin may seem like an act of camouflage, but the choice of character and its interpretation often reveals more about the person than it hides. Whether it be a cosplayer in a bikini or a person in a fur suit, nuances in physicality, body language, and personality are contrasted with the set of expectations that accompany their outward appearance. Hayley’s images poke at our attempts to distinguish perception from reality while wholly accepting the subject’s intention.
